Most people in Margao want the petrol pumps situated in a busy
commercial area opposite the municipal garden, to go out of the city. If
reports are to be believed, even the pump owners themselves are ready to move
out if suitable places are given to them.
However, authorities are passing the buck with regard to the responsibility,
the procedure and urgency of this issue. Even though these petrol pumps do not
contribute much to the traffic mess, but an explosion could wipe out a large
portion of the area, including the South Goa police headquarters.
“The land owners are the Margao municipal council. They should initiate action.
They should send them a notice asking them to leave. The Collectorate only
grants permission via a NOC for storage of petroleum by-products. But this NOC
is based on the NOC issued by the owner,” the Collector, South Goa, Mr G P Naik
told media.
And not surprisingly, the MMC chairperson, not willing to shoulder the blame
said: “We will do everything that is needed of us to get them out.” However,
the Collector’s stand is very clear. He says that the pumps have existed for a
long time based on the “NOC of the landlord (MMC). Let the landlord withdraw
the NOC and action will be taken by us.” And there it stands.
It may be recalled that the MMC had already taken a resolution some time back
that these petrol pumps should be shifted out, after recent media stories
highlighting the dangers these pumps could cause. However, Collectorate sources
say that this resolution has still not reached them.
Margao has already had a fortunate escape when a generator set of a Bharat
Petroleum pump, one of the four back-to-back petrol pumps in front of the South
Goa police headquarters, and touching the old bus stand, had caught fire.
However, the fire was doused out before it reached the stored flammable
gasoline.
But this was not the first time that there were calls from citizens to shift
the pumps out of the city. As far back as 2000 there was a proposal to relocate
the petrol pumps to the city outskirts, in the Navelim side and at the northern
entrance to the city as part of measures to decongest the city, but there has
been no action till now.
Other major cities in the country have not been so lucky. Recently Jaipur and
Bhopal have had to face fires at petrol pumps. Jaipur saw two persons killed
and four injured in an explosion at a petrol pump. The fire started late night
in the Shastri Nagar area when a LPG tank of a truck went up in flames while it
was being filled. In the resulting explosion one person was instantly killed.
In another incident a major fire broke out on Monday at a petrol pump near New
Market area in Bhopal. According to reports, fire broke out in a petrol tanker,
which was filling fuel at the pump. As huge flames engulfed the entire petrol
pump with around 15 fire tenders coming to battle the flames. Fortunately there
were no casualties.
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